Where did your 3.3-3.6 GPA child get in?

[PaperChaserPop]

I think the intent of this thread is to show where the B students on CC have been accpeted; not to critique or editorialize re. their ultimate choices.

Please don't get me wrong, my questions were not meant to critique. I was just curious about the decisions and the factors that may be at play here.

[S1732]

No offense taken here. It is always interesting and enlightening to hear about the college journeys taken by other families. The process is not an easy one or as straight-forward as it seems it should be (i.e. your kid gets into a top 20 university, obviously he will go there).

[CountingDown]

S1732, I will be interested to hear how your S likes Mac!

[ellemenope]

Plus, I've always wondered how that ROTC thing works. We had a kid at our high school who had an ROTC scholarship that really complicated her college situation. She had the scholarship, found schools that had space in their unit but she didn't get accepted into those colleges, got accepted into colleges that had the kind of engineering she insisted she must have but the unit had a waiting list, got accepted into colleges that had good engineering programs and space in their unit but not the kind of engineering she wanted. I didn't understand what the heck was going on--so I appreciate your explanation.

I never did hear the end of the story of the above-mentioned student...

[S1732]

This probably belongs in another thread, so I apologize for putting it here.

Ellemenope, I can only speak about Navy ROTC, but you're right that the scholarship process can really complicate things during the college process. This is how NROTC works:

Ideally, NROTC scholarship applicants submit their applications late in the summer/early fall of their senior year in high school. They list five NROTC units on their applications and rank them. Obviously, the student has probably not even applied to schools at this point. And getting a scholarship to a school does not assure admission. My son put Macalester (as a cross-town affiliate of UW-Minnesota) as his number 1 choice and CMU as number 2 because he did not think he would get accepted at CMU. I believe he listed UW-Madison, Miami of Ohio, and Loyola-Chicago as well.

Beginning in late summer, the NROTC scholarship board meets monthly (or thereabouts) to evaluate scholarship apps. I'm not certain if they can only approve a certain number of scholarhips each month, but applications that "don't meet the cut" are passed on to the next board. This continues through March or April, I believe. In my son's case, his application went through several boards and he finally received his scholarship in late February, about the same time college acceptances were rolling in. (He is not an engineering major, so was at a big disadvantage in the NROTC pool). He was awarded the scholarship to the University of Minnesota unit or any of its affiliates (Macalester & University of St. Thomas). He requested a transfer to the CMU unit, but was denied because the unit was already full with students who received their scholarship awards during earlier boards. That may be want happened with the student you spoke of.

About Macalester...so far (and school hasn't started), we have been more than impressed with the school. They are understanding of the complexities that NROTC will add to my son's life (needs to have a car to get to classes at UMN, needs to move in early in order to go to NROTC orientation, can take very limited courses on T/TH because those are the days that NROTC classes/activities take place). The head of his major department has worked with son this summer to come up with a four year major plan that will ensure that he gets it all done - IS major, language minor, semester abroad, NROTC requirements at UMN. And finally, MACs treatment of the NROTC scholarship funds (treated as an outside scholarship) was more than fair. I thought that son would lose all financial aid because his tuition was covered by the Navy, but I was pleasantly surprised in the end. So, yes, so far we love MAC. Hopefully, son will too.

OK...next list of successes for kids in the 3.3 to 3.6 range.

[pageturner]

My son's GPA was a little over 3.6, but it was his art/music classes that brought it over. I would guess that his core GPA was closer to 3.3. His ACT was 33. That said:

Accepted:
Carnegie Mellon (like S1732, this was his 1st choice, but could not attend due to large gap in financial aid)
UBuffalo
Rhodes
Tulane
Wooster
Drexel
UPittsburgh
York College of PA
Hobart

Transfer Option:
Cornell

Rejected:
WashU

[mantori.suzuki]

The CMU and Chicago acceptances will get everybody excited over on the "less than 3.6 GPA and applying to top-20" thread

Darn right!

[ellemenope]

Thanks, S1732--that is complicated! Now back to the previously scheduled thread...

[mythmom]

I would like to say that I don't think there are matches for anyone anymore -- just safeties and reaches.

I know not everyone agrees with me, but my kids' admissions results convinced me of that. They were rejected at some "lower" schools and accepted at some "higher" schools, so my advise would now be to apply to some safeties and cast the next wide for schools the student really likes and forget about a three tiered approach.

Just my experience. Feel perfectly free to disregard.

[sarsfield]

S graduated in '07
SAT - 2060
GPA - about 3.8
Accepted:
UCSD, UCD, UCSB, UCSC, Santa Clara, U. of San Francisco, USD, U. of Puget Sound
Rejected:
Stanford, Harvey Mudd, UCB, UCLA
Attending:
USF

[MilwDad]

First son graduated in '07. 3.4ish GPA, 34 ACT, 2120 SAT, very good ECs. Admitted to Wisconsin, Beloit, Kalamazoo, Cornell College and American. Waitlisted at Lawrence. Attending Kalamazoo with a merit scholarship and couldn't be happier.

[pixeljig]

Awesome responses! Hoping that as time goes on more parents will update us. Thank you all!

[Modadunn]

Son had 3.6 GPA (3.5something cum at end of jr year), 34 ACT, 2070 give or take on SAT. But I think there is a mitigating difference when a kid also has 6AP's on his resume as well.

Admitted to
Hamilton
Trinity (CT)
Colgate
Middlebury
Tufts

Rejected
Dartmouth ED
Georgetown
Johns Hopkins

Waitlisted:
Amherst

[emeraldkity4]

Both my kids had grades in the 3.5 range- don't remember what SATs were, one D's were higher than the other ( she also had taken SAT in 7th gd).
One had attended private schools-no weighting, no AP's offered.
Applied and was accepted to ( some with money)
Western Wa University
Central Wa University
University of Oregon
Evergreen State College
then took a year off and applied to
Reed College where she attended.

Other daughter attended inner-city public. No weighting. 5 AP classes.
Money was a factor, she applied and was accepted to
Humboldt State University
Western Wa University.
She took a year off, but because she was traveling didn't apply to any other schools, she will attend WWU.

[2009grad]

3.4 UW/3.9W 9 APs/IBs, 31 ACT - Received NROTC Scholarship to University of Michigan

Accepted

University of Michigan - will attend
University of Florida
Penn State
Virginia Tech

Waitlisted at UVA

Rejected at Vanderbilt